Chapter 181: The Roller Coaster, Part Two

Lin Yun ignored her completely. Once the short-haired girl had pulled her hand back, Lin Yun’s attention shifted toward the seats in the row ahead.

Just after that sudden drop, there was another stretch of track that spun riders around twice in quick succession at high speed — the kind of turn that could easily throw someone off balance if they weren’t careful.

The short-haired girl’s outstretched hand got slapped away by Lin Yun’s own, forcing her to withdraw it at once.

Lin Yun quickly pulled out an umbrella, gripping it tightly and holding it up over her head.

She’d spotted a water pipe mounted along the upcoming inverted section of track and guessed it would suddenly spray water once they passed beneath it.

Song Xizheng, seated ahead, had also been watching their surroundings closely. The moment he heard the sound of an umbrella opening behind him, he pulled out his own without any hesitation.

Almost the very instant both umbrellas snapped open, water burst forth from the pipes overhead. The spray came down hard, and combined with the roller coaster’s speed, it drenched their umbrellas almost instantly.

Some tourists, caught entirely off guard, ended up soaked through. Rather than minding it, though, they seemed to find the whole thing delightful, shrieking with excitement instead.

Because the passengers were already so worked up with excitement, even more of them began quietly making their moves, each hoping to be the one who managed to knock someone else clean off the roller coaster.

Lin Yun kept her crossbow strapped firmly to her left hand, its aim trained steadily on her own safety lock.

If the short-haired girl or either of the two seated behind them dared make a move, she was fully prepared to fire off a volley of cactus spikes in response.0

Holding the umbrella she’d just used in her right hand, she occasionally pretended to lose her balance from the roller coaster’s speed, letting it sway just enough to knock into Song Xizheng’s hand right as the short-haired girl tried once more to unlock his safety lock.

After a few rounds of this, the short-haired girl seemed to catch on and gave up bothering Song Xizheng in front, turning her attention instead to the passenger seated directly beside her.

Snap!

Ghost Vine lashed out sharply at the hand of the passenger seated in the row behind them, the strike landing with a loud, cracking sound.

The instant it was done, Ghost Vine withdrew again just as quickly, so fast that the other passenger had no idea what had even hit him.

"Hiss—"

The man in the back pulled his hand back at once, cupping it protectively with his other hand and blowing on it hard, since the pain was clearly intense.

His seatmate sneered inwardly at the sight. It was just two women, after all, and they’d only landed a single hit — could it really hurt all that much? Was it truly such a big deal?

Even as he kept half an eye on his own seatmate, he reached out as well, aiming this time for the short-haired girl.

But she was quick to notice, catching his movement immediately and slashing at him with the knife in her hand.

The blade didn’t manage to break the skin, though — it only left a shallow cut across the back-row passenger’s hand.

The short-haired girl let out a cold snort in response.

For a while after that, the passengers in the back row didn’t dare try anything more. They’d clearly realized the two women seated ahead of them weren’t the kind to be trifled with — their retaliation hurt far too much to risk again so soon.

They held themselves back for a time, deciding instead to wait until the two women let their guard down before trying again, hoping that would improve their chances of success.

It was right around then that the roller coaster reached a section of visibly broken track.

Yes — an actual break in the rails, clear as day.

From where Lin Yun sat, she couldn’t quite make out exactly where the break was located; she only found herself puzzled by how suddenly the screaming from the passengers ahead of her had grown so much louder.

"Ahhh! We’ve reached the broken part!"

"It’s fine, I trust our roller coaster can make it through — hahaha!"

The break itself, though?

Lin Yun wanted badly to get a clear look at what lay ahead, but the safety lock kept her fixed firmly in place, leaving her unable to see much of anything beyond her own seat.

Still, that break had clearly existed for some time already, and given how fast the roller coaster was traveling, they would pass straight through it in no time at all — there was no real need to worry about falling through the gap itself.

Before long, they’d cleared the broken section entirely.0

After a little while longer, the passengers in the back row and the short-haired girl both grew restless again, making fresh attempts to pry open a safety lock.

Lin Yun turned her head once more, her gaze locking onto the short-haired girl, her left thumb already resting firmly on the crossbow’s trigger.

Catching the movement out of the corner of her eye, the short-haired girl had no choice but to silently pull her hand back. She understood, without needing to be told twice, that this time the crossbow really would fire.

When the passenger behind them reached toward the safety lock beside Lin Yun instead, she pressed down on the trigger once again without hesitation.

The cactus spikes shot forward and pierced straight through the man’s palm.

The man in the back row: !!!

He yanked his hand back immediately, so consumed by the sudden pain that he completely failed to notice someone behind him quietly reaching for his own safety lock in the meantime.

Just then, the roller coaster was about to climb the upcoming inverted section of track.

The safety lock popped open all at once, and the man who’d just been struck by the crossbow bolt froze for a brief moment, his expression slowly twisting into pure terror.

A few seconds later, a scream tore through the air.

"Ahhhh—"

With his safety lock now open and offering no protection whatsoever, and with the roller coaster already inverted, he was thrown instantly from his seat.

"Hahaha, I got the very first unlucky one! Hahaha, I’m amazing!"

The girl seated in the second row burst into delighted laughter, clapping her hands together in celebration of her little victory.

Everyone else, noticing the poor man’s fate, seemed just as thrilled, thoroughly enjoying the sound of his screaming.0

Before long, even more passengers started making their own moves, each one eager to turn somebody else into the next unlucky victim.

Hanging upside down in midair, Lin Yun felt distinctly uncomfortable, as though the blood were rushing straight to her head. To make matters worse, the inverted stretch of track dragged on for quite a while, and the roller coaster’s speed had slowed considerably by then. Wasn’t this simply pure torture, plain and simple?

"Ahhhh—"

"Help! Somebody help me!"

A girl seated in the front row had her safety lock suddenly torn open, sending her tumbling instantly from her seat.

But she reacted quickly, snatching hold of her own unlocked safety lock and clinging desperately to the roller coaster itself.

"Huh? She didn’t fall after all. Should we go help her? Hahahaha."

"Forget it, she’ll drop soon enough anyway — she won’t be able to hold on for long."

"Exactly. And even if she somehow manages to hang on, there’s still the cart mechanism to deal with, isn’t there? It won’t let anyone stay out of their seat on this ride for long."

Ta-da! Ta-da! Ta-da!

"Oh, the mountain monster’s here! Hahahaha!"

"It arrived awfully fast this time. Could it have been watching the roller coaster this whole time?"

"Well, it’s her own fault for not just falling obediently. Otherwise the mountain monster would never have shown up at all."

Suddenly, an enormous black beast appeared on the track, not far off from where the girl clung desperately in place.

Its four massive claws gripped the rails tightly as it surged forward at tremendous speed, reaching the girl who dangled from her safety lock in what felt like the blink of an eye.

"No! No, please—"

The girl seemed utterly terrified at the sight of the massive black creature, screaming again and again in raw panic.

But the beast lunged without any hesitation whatsoever, its gaping jaws clamping down hard on the girl’s arm.

"Ahhhh—"

The sheer intensity of the pain forced her grip to give way, and she plunged downward.

Since the black creature had lunged directly onto her, it ended up falling right alongside her as she went down.

Lin Yun’s eyes widened sharply. So these were the other creatures the rules had mentioned earlier?

Did they, too, go around secretly prying open people’s safety locks?